Two Years
by HockeyMan99
Summary: Post-Brotherhood: Like many, I'd wondered what happened between when the brothers finally arrived home and when they set off on their next adventure. Between Roy's political ambitions, the progression of EdWin, and Al's recovery, we got lots to cover. Hope you enjoy my story! Happy reading!


Winry couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You're leaving? _AGAIN!?"_

She could see Ed's face turning red as he struggled to come up with an answer. "Come on, Winry, it's just for a few days!"

Almost involuntarily, she felt herself hurling her wrench towards his face ("Waitwaitwaitwait!"), which he got lucky and dodged for once. The wrench continued on its path through the Rockbell workshop, through the wall, and on into the kitchen. Alphonse's face, wearing an expression mixed between concern and amusement, greeted them from the other side of the wrench-shaped hole in the wall. "Brother, are you causing trouble with Winry again?" he asked in an exasperated tone.

Edward straightened up from his crouched position on the ground, shoving back into place the chair that had up until recently seated his body. Hopping back into the seat on his one good leg, he positioned himself behind the hollow space so he could see his brother. "No, Al, I was just telling her about our plans to go back to Central." He glanced nervously behind him as Winry, still fuming, made her way to the hole as well.

Al's facial suddenly turned from amusement to abject terror as Winry elbowed Ed out of the way ("Heyyyy, c'mon!"). He gave a small wave and helpfully held out the wrench through the hole. "Hi, Winry, I think you dropped this." It was supposed to sound confident but came out as a squeak.

Winry sighed. After all their years of traveling and saving the country, she finally had her two boys back, and now after two weeks - _two weeks!_ \- they were leaving again. She knew that it wouldn't last forever, that Al and especially Ed were too curious about the world around them to stay in one place for very long. She just wished it was longer than this. She huffed, grabbed the wrench back from Alphonse, and glanced at Ed, who was looking up at her from his chair with a look somewhere between apprehension, confrontation, and a third emotion she couldn't place but could almost be tenderness. It was a look the two had given each other many times, especially since Ed and Al had finally come back with their bodies intact, and it was becoming more and more intense the more time passed without them speaking of it. Part of Winry wished she knew for sure if Ed felt the way about her that she did about him, but she was content to let that work itself out. Now, with the brothers heading back to Central to meet up with Mustang, who knew how long it would take.

All of this flashed through Winry's mind as she made her way back to her table, where she had been fine-tuning Ed's new automail leg. Although she had replaced it many times already, the toll of fighting a god and going through a particularly intense growth spurt (Winry couldn't help but notice that not only had Ed's shoulders gotten significantly broader, but that he now was a few inches taller than her) had necessitated a new one. The nearly infinite amount of money now at his disposal, thanks to his stature in the military, was easily enough to pay for a new model, and it was this masterpiece-in-the-making that Winry returned to as Al clapped his hands (still giggling in the satisfaction of being able to do so again after not having had a body for so long) and alchemically repaired the small hole in the wall.

Ed was still looking hesitant to speak. "Uhh...Winry?"

She turned back around to face him. His face remained in that quizzical expression, and Winry realized she, too, was making the same face. They kept eye contact for several seconds, gold eyes matching blue, before Winry looked away.

She shrugged her shoulders, trying to seem nonchalant. What she wanted to do was to walk over to Ed and throttle him, or kiss the life out of him, or possibly both. What she did instead was resume tinkering with the leg and ask, "So what are you guys doing there anyway? Is Mustang making you guys do repairs for the damage you did?"

Ed snorted. "That bastard couldn't make us do anything more than we have, even if he wanted to. Besides," he briefly pressed his hands together and then began wiggling his fingers at her as if to conduct some kind of sorcery, "my alchemy's gone. We helped them out for two months, but they can't expect a one-legged ex-alchemist and a kid who hasn't used his body in years to be of much use." As if on cue, from behind the wall came the unmistakable sound of a dropped pot, followed by a yelp of "Ouch!" from Alphonse, the barking of Den, and a cackling noise that could only have been Pinako taking joy in the incompetence of Al's potato-boiling skills.

"So what exactly are you doing, then?" Winry asked, finishing tightening the final screw and once again walking over to the chair where three quarters of Edward Elric was perched.

"Well," started Ed as Winry began preparing for the second try of installing the new leg, "for starters, we wanna say hi to some people. It'll be our first time seeing Havoc with working legs again, and you know how much Major Armstrong gets when he hasn't seen someone for _too_ long." Ed shuddered, most likely having flashbacks to numerous breaks, contusions, and bruises from Alex's infamous embraces. "Beyond that, we have to check up on the Bastard and Hawkeye and make sure he's doing all he can to get his Ishbal program running."

The mentioning of Hawkeye caught Winry's attention. "How are those two, anyway?" she asked thoughtfully, bringing her box of tools over to the chair.

Ed raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, those two?"

Winry couldn't help but smirk. "Well come on Ed, there's obviously something going on between the two. The way they look at each other, how they talk when one another is around-"

"Well, anti-fraternization bans are there for a reason," he replied quickly. "That way no one puts an individual above the needs of the military..." Suddenly an evil grin overtook his face. "...Although that _would_ give me some great blackmail material," he pondered, seemingly to no one in particular.

Winry sensed that the conversation was moving in a decidedly more sinister direction than she had bargained for. "So, this ban," she started, setting up her equipment and getting Ed positioned right for the operation, "it applies to all levels of the military?"

Looking puzzled, Ed replied, "Well...yeah. That's kinda the point of the rule. It doesn't matter if you're a private, a general, a major, a doctor, a colonel..."

Surprised, Winry directed her attention back to Ed. "Even doctors?" she asked. "That seems weird, if they're not directly fighting. I mean, I know my parents did great with coordinating their medical and personal lives."

Ed shrugged and quickly turned his head to hear whatever commotion was happening in the kitchen. From the muffled sounds, it seemed as though Al had had yet another mishap with handling the hot potatoes. As Pinako again took seemingly limitless delight in Al's misfortune, Ed once again turned around to face Winry.

"Yeah, but between soldiers and doctors there can't really ever be a relationship," he explained. "Whoever the doctor is has to care for all patients, they can't go caring for one above others just because of a closeness they have. I mean, that's why I was happy you never -" Ed suddenly stopped speaking and turned very pink, and seemed to abruptly become very interested in a fly buzzing near his feet.

Winry smiled to herself, having gotten the conversation over to this in the smoothest way possibly. As she positioned Ed's automail leg to be attached to his stump, she "accidentally" let her hand glide over his thigh and silently laughed as his face bypassed red entirely and went straight to maroon. Her mouth almost level with his, she practically whispered, "Happy I never what?"

Ed gulped and made several attempts to clear his throat before speaking. When he did start it was not in his usual brash manner but in a stammered, breathily stuttered gasp. "Uh-um, never became a battlefield medic or automail repairwoman in the battlefield, because we're such old friends, and they might not be okay with us being such old friends, because of, y'know, repair time, and stuff like that, and cause you might have gotten hurt in the line of fire, you know?" he finished far too quickly, before sucking in a breath of air as if he hadn't breathed in several decades.

Winry decided to let him off the hook. She had the answer she'd been looking for. "So, when do you guys leave?" she asked as she collected her last few tools.

Clearing his throat and regaining his normal voice, Ed replied, "Two or three days from now, and we shouldn't be long. You won't even notice we were gone," shooting a confident smile her way. She loved it when he did that.

"Well, in that case, say hi to Hawkeye for me!" replied Winry brightly. "I'd go myself but Damon and Gwynedd both need repairs." She left the room and called, "Granny!" leaving Ed to himself.

Granny Pinako, seemingly fresh off of seeing Al struggling with the potatoes, was in a particularly chipper mood as she met Winry in the hallway. "You two were in there an awfully long time," she remarked casually.

It was Winry's turn to blush. "Granny!"

Pinako chuckled. "Come on, Winry, let's get that idiot patched up."

That night, over a dinner of surprisingly excellent potatoes, beef, and apple pie, Winry couldn't help but think of how long it had been since they'd had just a regular meal together, all four of them plus Den, like a normal family. If she ever looked at the brothers, Ed would get slightly pink in the face and look at his plate, and Al would give a cheery little wave, but she knew they wanted to get out and explore just as much as she wanted them to stay. She hoped they really would get back soon. Summer haad started, and with seemingly everything going right for once Winry hoped she'd finally get to spend a carefree year with her favorite people. She hoped they'd be around for the fireworks show in mid-summer, and for picking berries and going adventuring with, and just to spend time with. Because, as she watched Al and Pinako cheer on Ed attempting to eat a slice of pie using his still-progressing right arm while Den eagerly awaited the inevitable falling scraps, this was all the family she needed.


End file.
